Developing and validating scale for enterprise architecture capability and business–IT alignment

Purpose Organizations often fail to implement strategies internally when they do not effectively orchestrate their resources and capability. Therefore, this study develops a scale for measuring enterprise architecture (EA) capability and establishes a framework for evaluating its components. Properly assessing EA capability enables alignment between business and information technology (IT). Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive literature review was conducted along with expert interviews to determine which systems comprise EA capability. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 131 firms and convergent and discriminant validity analyses based on partial least squares structural equation modeling were conducted. The proposed model includes 17 characteristics associated with the strategic attributes, the business model that forms the business construct, and the system and technology models that inform the IT construct. Findings The results demonstrate that EA capability can orchestrate business and IT, and that IT resources are crucial to building EA capability. Additionally, it was revealed that when aligned with the firm's objectives and business model EA capability can leverage organizational agility, enabling changes through innovation or operational adjustments. Originality/value This study addresses the lack of methods for evaluating EA capability within organizations by providing empirical evidence to assess their effectiveness in orchestrating business and IT resources. This study complements the results of previous research by considering IT's influence on resource orchestration theory to enable business.